Pastor says Roy Moore was seeking 'purity of a young woman'

A pastor defended embattled Senate candidate Roy Moore, saying the controversial judge, who is accused of pursuing teenage girls as young as 14, was seeking the “purity of a young woman.”

Pastor Flip Benham told radio hosts Matt Murphy and Andrea Lindenberg on the "Matt and Aunie" show that Moore’s service in Vietnam left him pressed for choice when he returned and pursued a law degree.

“All of the ladies, or many of the ladies that he possibly could have married, were not available then, they were already married, maybe, somewhere,” Benham said.

RELATED: Women who have accused Roy Moore of sexual assault

And so Moore was forced to “look in a different direction”, according to Benham, who went on to note the judge’s wife Kayla Moore is a “younger woman.”

“He did that because there is something about a purity of a young woman, there is something that is good, that’s true, that’s straight and he looked for that.”

In an interview earlier this year, Moore said he first laid eyes on his future wife when she was a 15-year-old at a dance recital.

They formally met eight years later, when she was 23 and he was 37, according to Al.com.

Moore, who was reportedly banned from a Gadsden mall for flirting with young girls, has been accused of pursuing teens while he was in his 30s.

Beverly Young Nelson also said Moore sexually assaulted her when she was just 16.

Moore has adamantly denied any wrongdoing and said he only dated girls with their parents’ approval.

President Trump, who has stayed mum on the controversy, appeared to endorse Moore on Tuesday, saying, “We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat.”